A 2 part interview we shot at WOMMA's WOMM-U last spring: Above, Chris Pan discusses: Achieving goals via WOM | Facebook page as a voice | The engagement factor | Walls, tabs, microsites | Lenny Kravitz on Facebook | Tags | Brands with low follow rate | Quantifying business results. Part 2 is below.

In part 2 Chris talks about: Fan pages as an authentic voice | Brand fan pages by fans | Content is king | What people want to hear vs. what you want to tell them | Facebook marketing solutions | WOM is long term | WOM works best when integrated with social media.

Heidi Browning of MySpace talks about: Harness your advocates | Finding brand friends on MySpace | Hyper-targeted advertising | Advertising engagement | What is the impact of advertising in a social networking environment | Cultivation of creativity, that's what MySpace is all about | Creators and social activities | Cherry Coke example | Creating closed/private communities | Apply social learning to future campaigns | Video shot by coBRANDiT at WOMMA's WOMM-U conference, May 2009, Miami Beach, FL

We turned this vid around in 24 hours last week, with a b-roll package delivered same-day to local news outlets. From the press release:

Celebrating 80 years, Ocean Spray transformed Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, into a sea of glimmering red cranberries for the cooperatives Patriot Place Bog. The 1,500 square foot, free-standing cranberry bog contains more than 2,000 pounds of Ocean Spray cranberries designed to recreate the beauty of a cranberry harvest.

The Patriot Place Bog kicked-off a weekend of activities with Ocean Spray's first ever Tailgating Recipe Contest judged by Ming Tsai. Three finalists were selected to compete in a head-to-head cook-off for the title of Unofficial Official Tailgate Recipe of the New England Patriots on October 15.

Find the winning recipe Grilled Bacon Apple Bites with Chunky Cranberry Spread and other game day favorites at OceanSpray.com.

Facts on FiOS: Blogger demo at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA. We put this piece together in 24 hours as part of Verizon's effort at FactsOnFiOS.com. Verizon invited local bloggers to Gillette Stadium to check out FiOS's advanced features, we captured the session and blogger feedback for online distribution (part of a national series of blogger demos).

Here's a great interview we shot at the last WOMMA event. Jeben is Google/YouTube's lead creative for cross platform solutions (he actually has a two-sided business card!) and in this vid covers partnering w/ top producers, buying search, linked multiple vids, and other tactics to get your videos out there.

An interview we shot for WOMMA last spring: Geoff Donaker, COO of Yelp, talks about WOM and social media, the importance of joining the conversation, and why it's probably not a good idea to pay your mother-in-law for dinner. Make sure to attend WOMMA Summit '09 this November...
co-sponsored by yours truly, coBRANDiT.

A little action we shot last month. For more see PUMArunning.com or PUMA Running on facebook. coBRANDiT is assisting PUMA Running with social media content development and outreach.

Jesse and I will be shooting video at PUMA Running's Street Meet Boston this weekend. Street Meet is what you get if you drop a come-one-come-all track meet into a Jamaican street carnival, and add in international stars like Usain Bolt. Street Meet Boston is stop one on a 6 city international tour.

coBRANDiT is working closely with PUMA Running on video production, social media optimization, and community outreach surrounding Street Meet and other running initiatives.

Jesse launches a big bag-o-trash off the 5th floor fire escape. Does he hit the dumpster? Watch and see. Shot with a Nokia N95.

PUMA CITY comes to Boston for three weeks or so later this month. It's a retail store, event space, and bar rolled into one. Constructed of shipping containers, it's currently traveling around the world with PUMA Ocean Racing as the team competes in the Volvo Ocean Race. It's also going to be the backdrop for STREET MEET, PUMA Running's Jamaican street party/track meet on April 26.

coBRANDiT is assisting PUMA with content production, distribution, optimization, and general social media strategy. Work in progress, details TK, but here's the short list of projects we're involved with as of now:
PUMA Ocean Racing, PUMA Running, PUMA Golf, PUMA City, PUMA.
Most of these sites are blogs. Also active on facebook, twitter, flickr, and youtube.

"Whether they admit it or not every team has a guy who loves to take his clothes off. PUMA's guy just happens to be bowman Casey Smith. When rounding Cape Horn, Casey promised to round in the nude. As you will see, he kept his word..."

coBRANDiT is working with PUMA Ocean Racing for the next 7 months, helping to engage audiences through social media.

The Brief:
With the return of legalized absinthe to the US market Austrian distiller Fischer Schnaps began importing Absinthe Mata Hari in late 2008. Partnering up with marketing agency the Brand Action Team, Fischer Schnaps launched a campaign to introduce this "mixable absinthe" to communities of cocktail enthusiasts in key markets. Reaching out to noted cocktail bloggers, the Brand Action Team began sponsoring drink nights at local wi-fi enabled bars: mixologists meet to develop original recipes based on Absinthe Mata Hari, and share the results via live chat. But how to publicize this activity, put faces to names, and get out the word on absinthe's return to the US? And how to give the bloggers valuable content that would highlight their original creations?

coBRANDiT's Role:
Armed with a single Flip Mino HD camera, coBRANDiT documented the January 22 drink night session at Washington DC's Tabard Inn. The resulting video introduced chat room participants, provided links to their blogs, and contextualized Absinthe Mata Hari in the cocktail scene...as well as showcasing the top drink creations. Within a few days of the event we distributed the video on a variety of platforms and sites, with the Brand Action Team handling outreach and commentary. A "basic training" component was built into the project, with the goal of seeing what could be done with simple tools...the ultimate intention is to have reps. in local markets documenting events with Flip cameras and sending raw content to coBRANDiT for editing, distribution, and optimization.

Results: As of this writing the highly targeted video has been viewed in drink blogs and forums over 2000 times.

For use by distributed production teams and novice camera operators.
Seems like these days it's all about novice teams shooting Flip videos and sending us their content for editing. Here's something Jesse and I have been working on:

Recommendations for Shooting Video With Flip-type Cameras:

Avoid backlit interviews. Try to have subjects lit from the front or side. Do not have their backs to the sun, windows, or bright lights. Natural light is preferable to other light sources.

Hold camera 30” to 48” from subject so their head and shoulders fill the viewfinder. This will also improve audio quality. Shoot with the camera close to your eye level and face.

Avoid using zoom. Instead move the camera closer or further away. Need a close-up? The Kodak Z16 has a macro-lens that will do the trick.

Be aware of how much ambient noise there is. Sudden loud noises are worse than a steady hum of activity.

Shooting where there is action behind the subject increases the interest of the composition & can enhance the story. Find a spot out of the way but in the subject’s typical environment.

Get details of the subject’s routine, things they do every day that will illustrate their character, their core values, or both. When shooting this type of content, treat the video camera like you’re taking a photograph. Hold the camera motionless on a scene for 10 seconds and let people/cars/objects move through it. If you want to follow or track motion, try to start or stop your movement with a still shot.

Shoot B-roll to illustrate detail and provide an overview of the scene. Get subjects to say/spell their names and titles so we can positively ID them later.

When interviewing someone, ask some softball questions first to get your subject comfortable. Look for an entry to a deeper discussion. Try to get them to summarize their thoughts in a sentence or two.

Have fun with the process and don't worry too much about getting it "right." Good content will compensate for technical difficulties (within reason).

Workflow and Media Management
Flip video cameras require 2 hours to charge on your computer’s USB. Each charge will last for approx. 1.5 hours of video. Plan ahead. If you have a Flip Ultra, they take 2 AA’s. Swap in some new ones and you’re good to go!

Flip video cameras hold 1 hour of video content before they need to be “emptied”. If shooting for more than an hour either have your second camera ready to go or have your laptop booted up and ready to receive video. Have a Kodak Z16 or Z18? Swap out the memory card!

The cameras are similar to accessory hard drives. When you mount the camera to your laptop’s USB the camera will appear as a hard drive. Find the video files (located in DCIM/100Video if you have a Flip) and copy them off to a designated folder and label the files with where they were shot. If using a Flip Mino HD make sure you have LOTS of storage space available. You may want to purchase an accessory hard drive for this purpose.

After transferring video files to your drive, spot check them and make sure the transfer was successful. If so, remove videos from the Flip camera by dragging the contents of “100Video” (or other) to the trash and deleting them. Now you’re ready to shoot more video.

If you wish to send video files via the web, zip the files into a folder and send via http://yousendit.com. Video files are too big to email as an attachment. HD files will take a LONG time to send via web. Cameras may also be sent in for editing via FedEx.

Files can be most readily edited in iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Buy a Mac.

Want a .pdf of this to distribute to your teams? Download here.

Prepared by Jesse Buckley and Owen Mack, coBRANDiT
Video Questions? Call 617.823.9286 or visit www.cobrandit.com. We've also launched a Flip How-To twitter channel that we'll keep updated with new insights. Join in and tell us your tips! NOTE: This page and related .pdf updated 9/19/09

New video released by coBRANDiT today: WOMM-U is a 2-day comprehensive and interactive educational experience from WOMMA. It's built around giving you the real-world knowledge you need to execute exceptional word of mouth marketing programs that are most effective in today's recession economy.

When and where?
May 13-14, 2009 at the Ritz Carlton South Beach Miami.

For more info please visit http://womma.org/wommu/

The Brief:
Narragansett Brewing Company runs an annual Father's Day tie contest wherein consumers are asked to submit tie designs to the Brewery. 15,000 examples of the winning design are given away with the purchase of a case of beer. The contest has been traditionally limited to residents of Providence, RI, but in 2009 Narragansett wished to spread word of the contest to creative communities in Boston as well.

coBRANDiT's Role:
Utilizing existing creative (a poster), coBRANDiT created a cross-platform widget that could be shared (via email or social nets) and embedded in blogs and profiles. The widget contained contest details, links to brand websites, an invitation to the contest wrap party, and a video call-to-action. (As of 7/2010 the widget is no longer supported. The video component can be seen here.)

coBRANDiT distributed both the widget and the related video, posting to 12+ social media sites and managing blogger outreach and commentary across all channels. All content was optimized for SEO with the secondary goal of improving search results for Narragansett Beer.

Results: Word got around between Boston and Providence, and 'Gansett got many entries. The winning tie was released and spawned at least one fan video...see below.

The Brief:
Viximo is a leader in the growing market for virtual gifts, creating platforms for developing and monetizing digital goods worldwide. On January 5th 2009 Viximo released a landmark new development platform called VixML that allows talented designers to create basic iPhone applications with a minimal amount of programming knowledge. With a month to go before launch date Viximo contracted with coBRANDiT to produce an HD video that would explain the basics...and show off some of the cool things developed with VixML.

coBRANDiT's Role:
Viximo had an outline of the information that needed to be delivered...verbal and visual. We worked to streamline the content and develop a script that was then sent out to VO talent. We then shot supporting HD footage at the Viximo offices and in our studio which was edited together to create a 2 minute piece that demonstrates VixML's capabilities...and how the results look on an iPhone. The finished video is posted to YouTube HD.

Results:
Techcrunch wrote up the January 5th launch, giving VixML a great review and embedding the video. As of this writing (January 7th) the video has over 6000 views and is growing daily. The post has been linked to by numerous tech sites (many of whom have embedded the video) and has generated 36+ comments...a strong launch in a targeted community.

"coBRANDiT did an awesome job of understanding what we were trying to accomplish in the video & applying their creative energy to bring cool, innovative ideas to the table. Video they produced was very high quality & they were super responsive to all the feedback & edits that I had."
--Ted Achtem, Product Manager at Viximo, Inc.

There seems to be real push to get branded content out there via social media. But are companies following through on maintaining the community (or even just managing the comments) that then spring up? Are they developing content specifically for these communities? Seems to me that getting companies into social media is a series of incremental steps...and we should be happy with every little step taken. In this video David Armano of Critical Mass and Christine Morrison of Intuit discuss the issue. Presented in a fun little widget (aka white label video player) I put together...also pimping the next womma conference this May...Ritz Carlton South Beach, Miami. Be there.

I spent New Year's Day cruising around town documenting some of the sweet rides found on the streets here...typified by the kind of shabby chic I love. Happy New Year from coBRANDiT!

Spike Jones of Brains on Fire receives the first official WOMMA tattoo during Summit 2008...though he passed on the WOMMA logo and got a pirate ship instead. Introduced by John Bell, WOMMA President.

We are live streaming sessions from WOMMA's word-of-mouth marketing summit today and tomorrow. You can check out the stream here.
UPDATE: Archived Summit 08 content can be seen here. An example can be seen above.

I will be broadcasting live from Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba's SWOMfest '08 in Austin, October 30. Using my N95, run thru Qik.com over AT&T's 3G network into Mogulus, as seen here in player above.

Follow-Up: I turned off the live player and have instead embedded the opening minutes of SWOMfest: A Zombie Dance to MJ's Thriller, and Ben McConnell's opening remarks. Be patient...it takes 50 seconds till the zombies come out... More of our SWOMfest video content can be seen here on our qik channel and a revolving selection here on the SWOMfest mogulus channel we built.

The Brief:
In early 2008 PUMA Running began sponsoring up and coming Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. On May 31 Bolt surprised the running world by setting a new world record in the 100m, and it was decided to create a video “blogumentary” following Bolt as he prepared for and competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A flash based site and game was built to contain the program, but how to attract online running communities and the wider world of Olympic enthusiasts? What word-of-mouth and social media strategies could be used to involve viewers, improve SEO, and drive traffic to chasingbolt.com?

coBRANDiT’s Role:
In the space of 4 weeks we developed a multi-faceted social media outreach strategy that consisted of distribution to 15+ video sharing and social networking sites, as well as a branded Facebook application (no longer supported as of 7/2010) with a related cross-platform video widget. We optimized the videos within networks, responded to commentary, reached out to top running and olympic bloggers to gain choice placement, managed ad buys supporting the program, and ran a user-generated photo contest through the Chasing Bolt Facebook app. During the month of August, 12 videos were sent from Beijing to us for distribution and optimization, resulting in over 2 million views, a 64% increase in PUMA-related online chatter, and on August 20th the greatest number of daily uniques for any PUMA web property ever.

UPDATE: On November 14th 2008 this program received an Award of Excellence from the Society for New Communications Research.

“coBRANDiT put together a great social media campaign, the results of which exceeded our expectations. They know the space very well and are very easy to work with. I highly recommend coBRANDiT.”
-–Matt Taylor, Global Manager, PUMA Running

“coBRANDiT has been an incredible help to PUMA in areas from consumer research to digital campaign launches, always bringing fresh ideas and seeing them through to execution. Their passion and energy lifts up our entire team.”
--Ryan Eckel, Group Head, Marketing Strategy and Operations, PUMA AG

**Note: coBRANDiT has also conducted man-on-the street video research for PUMA in top markets such as Paris, London and NY; produced internal sales vids for PUMA Running; and consulted on social media and word-of-mouth programs off and on since 2004.

coBRANDiT is working with Fizz and the ADA Midwest documenting the ADA Midwest's Refuel with Chocolate Milk program. The program aims to spread awareness of chocolate milk's benefits as a recovery beverage at high school football games, track meets, and at health and fitness events throughout Ohio. The video series will be distributed in a custom player late in 2009.

"The coBRANDiT team really knows what they're doing. With work from Sixthman to Chocolate Milk they bring some great creative ideas to the table. They always deliver results and they do it within your time frame and do it with class. I highly recommend their work."
--Tyson Yirak, Director of Operations, Fizz

The Brief:
Athlete’s Performance provides training staff, facilities, and equipment to top athletes in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and many other sports. For the launch of their new consumer focused website coreperformance.com Athlete’s Performance required interview and demonstration videos shot on location with their coaching staff, as well as long-term social media video capabilities and strategic assistance.

coBRANDiT’s Role:
Working with Core Performance’s site editors, coBRANDiT shot interviews in Boston and Phoenix, creating over 40 2-3 minute HD videos in the space of about four weeks. We developed custom compression specs and delivered finished flash video ready to be uploaded to coreperformance.com’s servers ahead of schedule. As an ongoing partner to Athlete’s Performance, coBRANDiT continues to provide regular video content for coreperformance.com, and assists with strategic facilitation of social media video strategy.

“We needed storytellers experienced with video production and coBRANDiT did an excellent job. By helping us translate our needs into video presentations they really helped me sell-in to our organization just how we can use video to help out users out.”
--Sean Bohan, VP Strategy & Production at Athletes' Performance (Read more details here)

The Brief:
DailyGrommet.com is a web retailer hooked in to social media. Daily Grommet is “a place to learn about, and buy, one great product a day. Our promise to you is to offer fresh finds, and true stories, every day.” Launched in mid-October 2008, Daily Grommet emphasizes community, and stays connected to it’s audience with widgets, blog posts, twitter, and numerous social networking sites. Founders Jules Pieri and Joanne Domeniconi knew daily video would be a key storytelling component, but had no video production or distribution experience.

coBRANDiT’s Role:
Every weekday we produce a 2 minute video which features Jules and Joanne (and others) talking about their product offerings; the vids are distributed on 9+ social media video sites as well as on Grommet's homepage. We built a simple studio in the Daily Grommet offices for regular shoots, and work with Jules and Joanne to integrate manufacturer videos and their own Flip Video content. We also produced introductory and “about” videos for the site launch, and continue to offer strategic counsel relating to social media video. Watch Daily Grommet here.

“I hired coBRANDiT to produce our daily videos for www.dailygrommet.com. This was a big decision because our team had no expertise in this area and we really needed pros… coBRANDiT is delivering on all counts. They are highly dedicated, make us sound way better than we should, and really add valuable experience, creativity, and perspective to the whole project. Our video shoot day is becoming a highlight of the week… Great work!” --Jules Pieri, Founder, Daily Grommet

The Brief:
Craft brewer Flying Dog has an ambitious social media program; they aim to be the most web 2.0 savvy brewer online. The goal is to communicate with home brewers, beer drinkers, and aficionados in the environments where they live, and to create and place content in easily sharable formats. Video is a clear part of the mix.

coBRANDiT’s Role:
coBRANDiT traveled to Flying Dog HQ in Denver, CO for 2 week long taping sessions; one in the winter and one in the summer. While in Colorado we documented the brewhouse, interviewing brewery founders, the head brew master, bottlers, and other staff; the brewery Superbowl retreat in Steamboat, a road trip to Flying Dog’s original location in Aspen, and various staff interactions and brewery events. The results were edited into a year’s worth of bi-weekly video which was distributed on various sharing sites, and on a vlog we built and continue to manage. We also developed and distributed a video widget that brought the entire series to embedded locations. In addition we worked with FD marketing on how best to integrate our activities with event, advertising and packaging initiatives, tying it all together with an outreach strategy that incorporated all elements of the program.

SNCR recognized our work with the 2007 Award of Excellence in the Corporate Video category, a full case study can be seen here.

“The guys at coBRANDiT are forward thinkers. They’re constantly analyzing new and current social media technologies to present to clients and integrate into their marketing efforts. They love this stuff.” –Neal Stewart, Prime Minister of Marketing

**Note: Neal was formerly the Brand Manager for Pabst Blue Ribbon, and in that role became coBRANDiT’s first client. We produced a series of PBR neighborhood interviews for him in exchange for beer. The story was written up by Rob Walker in Inc. magazine, August 2004. That’s what put us on the map.

coBRANDiT’s Role:
We shot and delivered finished, edited videos (6-8 per roundtable) within days of the event, and in the case of cancersandcareers.org we developed a cross-platfrom widget containing videos, info pages, and links to relevant urls. Distribution was handled by MS&L.

coBRANDiT’s Role:
We sent a two-man video crew to cover the event, attending blogger dinners, press events, the show floor, and interviewing GM managers and auto industry bloggers about their take on the state of the industry and show announcements. Within two days we released 14 detailed videos on various social media sites, and built a cross-platorm video widget to allow easy sharing and embedding on relevant blogs and social networks. These videos were viewed thousands of times and resulted in increased traffic to Gmnext.

Here's the video we just put together promoting WOMMA's Summit 2008 in November at the Rio in 'Vegas. Shot the whole thing with Flip Video cameras and my N95.

Jesse and I recently produced a set of 20+ videos for CorePerformance's site launch. We spoke with CorePerformance's professional trainers on location in Boston and Phoenix on topics such as Mindset, Nutrition, and How to do the World's Greatest Stretch. The above vid is about Snacks for the Golf Course.

Watch how the titles and logos work in these videos. I'm pretty proud of the titles and logos.

PUMA Running has hired coBRANDiT to help distribute video and publicize content from chasingBOLT.com. chasingBOLT is a "blogumentary series" which follows PUMA sponsored 100m world record holder Usain Bolt as he travels to Beijing to compete in the 2008 Olympics. Working with our distribution partners Pandemic Labs and Involver we'll be updating various social media video channels, widgets and apps. with new content regularly for the next month, so stay tuned!

Harvard Business School is in Allston...not Cambridge. That means Allston is the seat of great business and mktg knowledge. coBRANDiT is in Allston. Get it? Here's a short drive-by tour of HBS and surrounding Harvard properties.

Here's another fun sixthman mission we shot last winter: The Cayamo singer/songwriters cruise brings top performers Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, and others together with their fans on a six day Caribbean cruise. Visit cayamo.com for more details.

Ok folks...a breakdown of the technologies we used to vlog from WOMM-U last week in Miami. We used two cameras: a Nokia N95 8gb and a Flip Video Ultra. The N95 is a multi-functional phone/computer often billed as competition for the iPhone. It's user interface blows by comparison but it shoots very nice video and has a few video apps. available that make it a great vlogging tool. You can shoot video to memory and then send the video (we use Shozu) to many social media video sites at once with one touch of a button. I typically send videos to a couple of youtube channels, a couple of blip.tv channels, and utterz.com though there are 20+ others i could set up. Shozu uploads are limited to a 10mb file size (though direct uploads to individual sites are not). That's why we didn't use Shozu in Miami. Instead, we live streamed via Qik.

We loaded Qik onto the N95 and set up our account online. When you open up Qik on the N95 it takes about 2 seconds to load, then you hit the button labeled "stream" and there you are, live streaming to the web with a few seconds of delay. Viewers can type in chat comments and they appear on the screen of the N95 in real time. This means if I'm talking to Joeseph Jaffe (as I did at the womma party in Miami, see photo above) viewers can ask questions which appear on my screen and I can ask Joe to respond. Joe sent out a tweet to alert his audience and we were off and running. As a side note: Qik videos can be viewed or embedded in two ways: you can embed a player which shows live video whenever you go live, or you can embed and view archived streams as individual clips (like you do on youtube). Here's the archived stream created while Joe was running my N95. I had gone to get beer...



Ok, understand so far? Good. Now it's gonna get more complex...we were also using Mogulus. Mogulus allows you to produce a 24/7 video channel that's always playing a rotation of selected video. Whenever you go live (which you can do via an N95 and qik, or via a web cam like the one built into you laptop) the live stream automatically bumps the rotation and there you are. Live. Mogulus lets you overlay branding and tickers and titles and crawls, so you can apply text and images to your live feeds (and the vids in rotation for that matter). We set up a Mogulus channel for WOMM-U at mogulus.com/womma. Mogulus is set up so that multiple producers can login from remote locations. You could run a live or near live channel from different places around the world. This just in from our team in Dakar! Pretty cool. Mogulus allows chat in the same way Qik does, and offers customized embeddable players. I'm not embedding one here because they're a pain in a blog post. They're always on! They need to be on a standalone page like this one: the coB homepage.

So far so good. But it turns out that live video is hard to produce (surprise!). Easy technically, but in terms of compelling content you've got to have your interviews and situations lined up pretty well. And to get the chat going you've got to do a little pre-publicity and then run the camera for awhile to give people a chance to respond. People aren't used to live web video. The first comments we get are usually something like "Are you really live? Say hello to me if you are." To make live video work well you've got to have pre-determined go live times and you've got to stream for 15-20 minutes minimum. AND you've got to have some good content lined up. A hot interview, a sweet scenario, a crazy event, a compelling demo. Want the easy mobility of an N95 but don't need or want to go live? Want to produce video you can actually edit? Ahhhh....Flip Video Ultra.

These $140 cameras hold an hour of flash video content and produce amazingly crisp 600x480 video with good sound. The file formats can be a little wonky (.avi) but there are easy workarounds available. The converter I use is streamclip, available from apple. Here's the Flip workflow: Put it in your pocket. When you want to shoot, pull it out, turn it on and in 3 seconds you're ready to shoot. Hit the red button and you're recording, hit it again and you stop. There's a basic digital zoom that helps in some situations, but it degrades the video quality. When you've got an hour of content, flip out the built in USB and load it on to your computer. You can load on files directly (the camera functions just like an accessory hard drive) or you can edit and compress videos right on the Flip--all the software is on the camera's drive in a nifty little program that opens up on your computer screen. The way we work is to bring the files into iMovie or Final Cut Pro and edit them down a bit and add titles and music. Then we do our own compression and throw it up on YouTube or Viddler or load it into our Mogulus stream or whatever. Here's a mix we produced this way at WOMM-U. It's not live, but pretty close if you work fast and the content can better because it's edited...but you lose the live chat functionality. Though you can chat about non-live video through Mogulus if you want to.

Part of the question here is quality vs. quantity, and is live really valuable? Depends on the situation. I can certainly think of a lot of applications for live video, but you really need to do the advanced set-up, PR, and pre-production to get it to engage people and work properly. Near live like we did with the Flip worked pretty darn well, though at an event you need to set aside time for editing or be prepared to stay up late. Need more quality? That's why we aren't throwing out our nice Sony HD camera and our wireless mics...yet.

Jesse and I will be live vlogging portions of WOMMA's WOMM-U down in Miami May 7-9. For the next few days you can check out the action on our front page and here at a more permanent site. I'll do a more detailed post on what tools we're using soon. Hint: Mogulus, Qik, Nokia N95's and Flip Video Ultras.

We are taking the opportunity to make a PR announcement: coBRANDiT is teaming up with guerrilla marketing agency Street Attack to offer a full suite of alternative marketing services. We've built out the widget below to help spread the word. Check it out and let me know what you think! (That goes for the live vlogging too...)

From a Scott Monty Facebook post publicizing ooVoo, a video conferencing platform that looks pretty cool:

In February 2008, a group of 20 bloggers and podcasters hosted "My ooVoo Day". The participating bloggers chatted with fans via ooVoo. To thank all the bloggers hosting the chats, ooVoo donated $30,000 to the Frozen Pea Fund, a fund established to support the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign, in honor of blogger and cancer patient Susan Reynolds. Go to http://www.oovoo.com/ to download ooVoo...

Jesse and I attended Bryan Person's Social Media Breakfast in Cambridge MA this morning...fun event. I shot some N95 qik video of the 4 presenters and did a little video show and tell. Topic: getting hired via social media. Guess what? If you want to get hired in the social media jobspace, the paper resume is dead. You can see all the video posts here.

I bought a Flip Video Ultra last week and I just got it. It's pretty cool, very nice build quality, video quality, the software is all included in the camera so when you plug the thing into your usb it's all there. Sweet! Except that if you're running a 2 year old mac with 10.4, you get no audio when you try to view in quicktime. This means you can't view outside of Flip's program...no editing in iMovie or FCP. Flip includes a 3ivx codec to plug into quicktime but it doesn't solve the prob. I tried some third party plug-ins I found online (Perian.org and others) to no avail, then called Flip's help line. They told me to try Perian. I said that no good. They said there was an issue with 10.4 and they were working on a patch. I said when patch ready? They said dunno. I said so....my new toy is trash until then? They said yes, sorry. Hang up. LAME!

I've since found squared5's mpeg streamclip, which is a converter that solved all the probs, 'cept the audio is still really soft. Shame on Flip for not being up front about the problem on their site.

OK, this is one of our more interesting projects...Put Lynyrd Skynyrd and 4000 fans on a Carnival Cruise in the Carribean...that's the Simpleman Cruise. This vid is footage from 2008, visit simplemancruise.com for more details (and if ya like Skynyrd, sign up for 2009). We were on the boat for 4 days interviewing passengers and band members, releasing daily video over the shipboard A/V system, and gathering material for a 12 part web series to be released through fan forums, etc. As Bostonian yankees, it was quite an experience...

WOMMA's next conference is WOMM-U, May 8 and 9 in Miami. Here's a video we put together to help publicize the event. Pass it on! and see you there. It's also here on blip.tv and here on YouTube and a bunch of other places...

Sarah Meyers [of] daily show Pop17, a joint production with Rocketboom...
Like superstar blogger Robert Scoble who has both an edited and a live show at fastcompany.tv, Sarah two as well.

Robert uses QIK. Sarah uses Flixwagon. Both use the Nokia N95.

Beyond the live audience for these video casts, the clips are saved and archived by both services. Earlier this month, YouTube announced an API to allow streams from QIK and Flixwagon to upload directly to YouTube. Robert reported this first on QIK earlier this month. Flixwagon announced the news on it's blog a few days later.

It is the archival use of these video that is the promise of this new technology.

In addition to live uploading, Sarah explains later in this interview how the 3GP files on the Nokia can be downloaded into a editing system.

I finally got around to checking out Kyte. Impressive. I'll be playing with this once i get my N95 back. The above video is too long but sure tells a good story: Video, live video, live text and audio chat, full embedability, app. development tools for facebook etc. This is advanced stuff.

Well, I really do love ShoZu, which allows you to easily upload video from your phone to any number of different locations quick and easy....as long as your file size is less than 10mb. That is a tiny limit! It means that people running decent camera phones can only upload 20-30 seconds of material. Bummer! There's a petition on the ShoZu forums to raise the upload limit, or make it a pay service, but no answer from Shozu yet. ShoZu! Help! I can't use your service enough!

The N95 arrives and is unboxed...and the mobile era begins at coBRANDiT. Shot a bunch of sound bites and office views, then strung some of them together in iMovie. The raw footage can be seen (and contributed to) at obttv.com.

And can I take a moment to talk up Viddler? Viddler is an amazing service...good video quality, all the sharing tools you'd expect, plus you can comment and tag in the playbar, embedding links...you can even leave video comments. Very cool. And we've discovered that comments in Viddler vids index very well (great google juice).

Some years ago we started a site called OBTTV dedicated to cheap uploads. We've resurrected it as a mobile platform, for the moment running on blip.tv. Upload your own mobile vids to obttv.smile@mobile.blip.tv and it'll appear. Fun eh? Here's an official announcement we ran on Qik earlier today.

Click To Play

Watch above for a demonstration of video buffering probs with my new N95 8gb. This blows. Maybe the Easter Beagle can help?

We just got ok'd for a Qik alpha account...sweet. Here's the first little test vid. The Qik interface on the N95 is very sweet i gotta say. Once you've got the application installed (easy) you just turn it on and the video screen opens up with a little Qik bug in the corner and a buton for "stream"...hit the button and you're live. The player above contains the first vid I shot, but will update as I shoot more or play live if that's what's going on. At least that's how I think it works...we'll see!

update: yeah, that's how it works.

Note on the N95: I've gotta send it back 'cus it's having trouble buffering video when I shoot to memory, which is to say whenever I'm not shooting live to Qik. Big bummer. Video is of course the only reason I spent $700 on the thing. This better be a solvable problem.

I'm sick of hearing about SXSW. Look, we all know it's a music festival that got glommed onto by marketers. So here's a little video about how Jesse and I stayed in Allston (aka Rock City). Shot with the secondary camera on the N95...only 2 megapixels.

Who Needs A Movie? is the most recent viral to enter my inbox. A wonderful argument for the power of web video...500k plus people have watched this thing in the last month. I wonder how many have clicked through to their site and PayPalled them a $1 CDN? (For access to more videos...even though they're all up on YouTube) These guys are probably rich now. I could learn a thing or 2 from Fred and Sharon up in Canada.

More detail from Desperate Housewives stylist Cate Adair...a project we shot for MS&L in NY. We've got it here on Viddler because we can drop url's for the sites Cate mentions right in the vid...nice! From the description:

Cate Adair, stylist for Desperate Housewives, partnered with Febreze for a roundtable discussion on spring style with top fashion and style bloggers. In this video, Cate reveals style tips for new moms, must have brands for spring, and using Febreze to care for your vintage items. This is the second in the series from the Febreze "Breath of Fresh Style" blogger roundtable discussion.

Now that I'm finally getting into mobile video I've discovered Veeker.com (though I haven't played with it yet). Veeker's front page lists these capabilities:
* Send videos and pictures from your phone to any phone
* Send videos and webcam messages from your PC to phones
* Store every video and picture you ever send or receive
* Embed a Message Widget that lets others send webcam messages to your phone
That last one's pretty nifty...see an example above. It's monetized with ads, of course. Their blog has some other examples and a video interview with some Veeker poo-bahs.

I've got a Nokia N95 8gb on loan to play with while I wait for mine to come in (thanks to Brett at Street Attack). It's UI is not great...buttons feel cheesy...and I can't get it to download video over MMS (yet). But I can upload videos of my sleeping puppy!
Here's a test through Blip.TV (much better vid quality):

Vlogger Sarah Meyers of Pop17 on live video apps, including word from YouTube's Steve Chen that 2008 is the year for live vids on YT. Via Mashable.

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net put together the above vid with a few of his tips for marketing in social media. Guess what? Spreading your message with social media is a full-time job. Gotta maintain all those sites and profiles...be active and insightful...and have something relevant to say. And note the AdSense ads playing out on revver...when is AdSense gonna run video ads? Anybody know?

We shot this piece for MS&L in NYC last week: A Febreze sponsored blogger roundtable with Cate Adair, stylist for Desperate Housewives. From MS&L's description: "Cate demonstrates two looks you might see on the Red Carpet: A beautiful butter yellow Kevan Hall goddess dress and a stunning navy blue satin dress from Rare Vintage - with amazing John Hardy and Platinum Guild jewels."

Cate also reveals behind-the-scenes red carpet secrets and tips for using Febreze to care for your vintage items...we'll release more content from the Febreze "Breath of Fresh Style" blogger roundtable discussion soon.

VideoEgg continues it's leadership role when it comes to serving video advertising. Their new AdFrames offer is sweet...sweet technology and a sweet new way of charging around engagement rather than CPM. Mashable breaks it down here, here's VideoEgg's page on the offering. And watch the video above, click through to the demos. Cool cool cool!

"...Dailymotion [made an] announcement that all HD content uploaded to the video-sharing site will be automatically re-encoded for 720p HD playback."

Announcements were made regarding new introductions and concept cars (of course), but the big news was E85 ethanol and GM's investment in Coskata, a company that seems to have found a way to make E85 out of a renewable resource: trash. Click play to view our vids, enjoy!

Part playing with Veeker, part introducing Schlitzuation.com. Love Schlitz? Check it out.

I can't emphasize enough what a game changer this is. Introducing our Mogulus channel. Right now it's running youtube vids, better quality vids to follow...See Jeremiah's post on how to run live video through mogulus using a ustream account.

WOW. Check this live video widget broadcasting from CES. (Disabled 'cuz it's now out of date. For an example of the technology, click here.) Courtesy mashable.com and podtech.net.

Then go to this page and watch the great opening video intro'ing mogulus.com. (Too bad I can't embed it here...where are the embed tools??) Sign me up anyway...holy sh*t this site changes the game.

Ahh, New Year's. Better quality trash appears in the snow the next day.

Gonzo Imperial Porter comes off the bottling line from Josh Mishell on Vimeo. Looks pretty good don't it? But it looks better on the Vimeo site... especially if you toggle fullscreen. Hey Vimeo! Why don't your embeds look as good as the video on your site?

Elliot Yamin of American Idol fame sat down in NYC with top bloggers to discuss his role as a global ambassador for Eli Lilly's Inspired by Diabetes and other topics related to living the dream. Video by coBRANDiT, 'natch. (Note: Videos are NLA as of 7/2010)

Inspired by Diabetes is a global campaign asking people with diabetes, as well as their family, friends and health care professionals, to express how diabetes has impacted their lives — and share those stories with others around the world.

To share your story, and enter the Creative Expression competition, visit www.inspiredbydiabetes.com. You could win a trip to Italy and backstage passes to an Elliott Yamin show. Eli Lilly will also donate money to the IDF Life for a Child Program, which provides insulin and diabetes supplies to children in developing nations.

Ted Wright, founder and president of word-of-mouth marketing organization Fizz Corp. moderates a panel with Andy Levine of Sixthman, Ken Block of the band Sister Hazel, and band fan Marc Pruitt--a "hazelnut". Taped at WOMMA's Summit 3 in Las Vegas, NV by coBRANDiT. Disclosure: Fizz and Sixthman are coBRANDiT clients.

It's not our usual MO to tape whole panels, but there was a lot of interest in this one. Presented here on viddler, with chapter markers so you can scroll through. Feel free to add your own markers and comments.

I'm playing around with utterz.com, which is a mobile blogging platform. It takes audio, pics and video from your phone and drops it into a web widget like the one above. Seems like I need a new phone though...the video above is all out of synch! I've got a not so fancy one year old LG. Hmmm. Here's Mashable's review of Utterz.

coBRANDiT’s Role:
Working with Communispace’s marketing department we developed a series of interview questions focusing on various team member’s role within the company, and how their work positively impacted client business. Our low-impact shooting methodology took the stress out of the interviews, and allowed thoughtful, insightful, and passionate responses to come from staffers not used to being on-camera. The results were carefully edited into a series of pieces for use on Communispace’s website and in sales presentations.

Here's AdBrite's pitch for how to do ads in video...but where are the demo ads? Still don't see how the ads are meant to display. Maybe they've got no inventory...I'm hoping to speak with Philip Kaplan of AdBrite at next week's Forrester Consumer Insights Forum; he'll have the answers. Oh wait! I think it's that little piece of text in the top left corner of the player. Yeah, that IS unobtrusive.

Part one is BrandNets--a "customizable software platform that connects consumers with the brands they love. Through viral tools, widgets, games and other applications, a brand can build a vibrant community which promotes brand engagement, inspires two-way dialogue, and fuels evangelism and positive word-of-mouth. The platform can also be used to deploy on-demand research and focus groups."

Part two is Tokns--a cross-platform video player that is powered by "tokns", meaning that in order to play the content a viewer has to cash in tokns which are earned by engaging with the sponsoring brand in a social media network or community. Send the player to a friend is worth X tokns, embed the player in your myspace page is worth 2X tokns, etc. The widget-like player is loaded (and regularly refreshed) with exclusive insider content from the sponsoring brand, and functions as a launching pad for word-of-mouth campaigns and interactive online experiences. The idea is to take video advertising (or branded content) out of the interruptive model and instead make compelling content a reward for loyal "brand lovers" who spread the word through social media. From the press release: "Tokns is the first universal, reward-based, social media currency. Tokns powers, tracks and rewards engagement with brands across all social networking environments. Deeper engagement with brands unlocks exclusive access to digital content, unique experiences, and brand sponsored rewards."

Brand Networks is launching specialized "BrandNets" for national clients and is conducting a private Beta of its tokns platform. They also provide "strategy, creative and implementation services designed to improve the effectiveness of viral marketing, social media, promotions and word of mouth among a company's existing brand advocates."

(All quotes pulled from the Brand Networks press release)

Like the title says...as viewed in the new player. Yes, AdAge did a story on Facebook and I joined. See ya in the womma group! I put this vid together in about 45 seconds so I could grab a screen shot of my face in a quicktime player.

The competition. Check it out.